Alhumdulillah after much blood, sweat, toil and tears, we now bring you a website dedicated to our show. It is very simple www.alchemyoftruth.com.au
From now on inshallah when we do a show, our podcasts are going to the website, we also provide forms and facilities for you to give us feedback or suggestions about possible shows or guests etc...
This blog will continue to be online, but I will be writing my personal posts, you are still welcome to read and comment on these.
Mission of Hope is one of those Organizations that remind me of the word Da'uub دؤوب, which roughly translates the state of working hard and persevering through the hurdles. Throughout the controversies, the riots and the debates on rights and responsibilities, those guys kept their heads down and the worked to develop the Muslim community, their initiatives and projects aim to strike the heart of the problems and the issues facing the Muslim community. I ask Allah swt to reward them for their work and their intentions.
Maha Najjarine is of those tireless individuals whose list of volunteering roles and achievements is longer than my arm. She joins us to discuss the follow up the Villawood detention center's Ramadan Iftar program.
She also tells of the 2012 AMAA (Australia Muslim Achievement Awards) and the nominations closing on the 15th of October.
This show was broadcast live from Mado's restaurant in Auburn. The whole show was fun and massively chaotic, but alhumdulillah we managed a podcast out of it.
The last two weeks have witnessed a lot of anger, some violence, and the same calls for civility and citizenship requirements for Australian Muslims. Articles were written, placards with offensive messages brandished, people arrested, commentators commentated, and muslim leaders made controversial decisions.
In a few months when all this dies down, we may be able to look at this episode in Australia's political religious cultural dynamic. But for now. We presented a show grasping the moment of today.
Our guest was Uthman Badar, spokesman for Hizbu Tahrir.
Amal Awad is a Palestinian-Australian Muslim, a child of the 80s, and an eternal advocate of good grammar. She graduated university with an arts/law degree, practised very briefly as a lawyer and now works as a journalist. Courting Samira is her first novel.
It may be the 21st century, but who says courtship is obsolete? This story is a light-hearted but honest peek into the life of a young, single Muslim woman living in Sydney – the joys of a blossoming romance (all very proper), the courtship rituals (so Jane Austen), the struggle with career and, of course, Arab Guilt.
We chat to Maha Najjarine from Mission of Hope in Sydney to find out about the incredible work they're doing. Feeding all of the refugees in Villawood. Providing Ramadan Meals for them for the entirety of the month.
We also meet brother Basel Ayoub. Who is leading FAMSY's Believe Achieve Inspire Program. We talk about leadership and its development.
We will be posting up relevant links and websites here and on the facebook page as well inshallah www.facebook.com/alchemyoftruth
I-deb8 is an ISRA initiative, a way for Muslims to get together to discuss and debate their views and opinions in a respectful and constructive manner.
This topic is mired in politics, culture and religion. We discuss it and the debates themselves as well.
Our guests for this show were brothers Sadeq and Atish. The show was hosted by myself and sister Anarose Zayed.
Faith, fashion, fusion: Muslim women’s style in Australia
Opens 5 May 2012
From street-style to red carpet dresses, this exhibition explores the emerging modest fashion market and the work of a new generation of Australian clothing brands offering stylish clothing for Muslim and non-Muslim women.
“Faith, Fashion, Fusion: An Insiders Perspective” – Friday May 4th Interviewing: Assistant Curator Melanie Pitkins and models Asma Fahmi and Sarah Chaabo. Showing at the powerhouse Museum from 5th May.
We explore the history and nature of Islamophobia in the west and specifically in Australia. We have as our guest today sister Rebecca K and sister Mariam Veiszadeh contributing their thoughts and insights with us.
We mentioned the JAAN initiative by Mission of Hope in Sydney, as well the US based website Loon Watch, one of the most beneficial useful tools of the fight against Islamophobia in the west. I strongly recommend reading and following them.
The second episode exploring the issues of Feminism and Islam. Is there a
compatibity between them ? or do their philosophical basis make them
pivotally incompatible ?
Our guests this episode are Jamilah Hussien from UTS (Sydney) and
Mohammad Tabbaa from Melbourne University.
A massive thanks to all the brothers and the sisters who contributed, commented, followed up and trolled us on the show.
We are always seeking to be better in what we offer and how we offer it, we welcome all feedback, its sweet and sour, so please don't be shy to let us know your thoughts or suggestions.
As you know (If you've been following my blog) that I stopped my wildly successful Friday Night Live to prepare for my next even more global radio phenomenon The Alchemy of Truth.
Alhumdulillah the first show started on Friday the 23rd of March 2012. The topic of the show was a topic I had been interested in for a while now: Feminism. I wanted to explore whether Islam and Feminism were compatible. There were strong arguments on both sides, and so I thought to bring the proponents of both ideas to discuss them in a public space to benefit others.
I call the show the alchemy of truth because I think that in many cases we may discuss certain issues to death, but that doesn't mean that anyone of us should be more right than the other. Exploring the ideas was more interesting than reaching a conclusion.
This part of our series on Muslims and the Media.
Uthman Badar, media spokesman for the Hezbu Tahrir,
discusses with us the dynamics of Hezbu Tahrir with the media. We also
discuss the way Muslims have been portrayed in the media during pre and
post colonization and the influence that may have on current media
representation of Muslims.
In their own words "The Y Factor is a weekly radio program that airs once a week between Maghreb and Isha on Thursdays. We currently record our episodes at the Voice of Islam radio station studio in Lakemba, Sydney. We also feature on their frequency 87.6FM."
As part of Friday Night Live's series on Muslims and the media, we asked the Y Factor crew to come in to the QKradio studios in Fairfield for a relaxed chat about just that.
Amazing guys (and girl) who have the love of Allah and the zeal for leading the community and providing positive ideals and role models. And we wish them best.
We were also fortunate to get the exclusive opportunity to listen to brand new tracks from The Brotherhood's new album. We got to chat with one of their members Jehad Dhabab about the amazing new album with feats from international rap stars such as bone thugs n harmony and the outlaws.
The video is for the first ten minutes only, streaming and downloadable podcast available below as well.
I'm still experimenting with video production quality so I'll upload a better quality video soon inshallah.
Hanan Turk is a famous Egyptian actress. Or so I'm told. I don't much Egyptian movies now adays.
A couple of years ago she donned the hijab and started spending more time getting involved in charities and Islamic Projects. She's in Sydney to raise funds for Islamic Relief's new Sydney Office.
Having met her though, I was surprised by how gracious and down to earth she was.
Hanan Turk, with representatives from Islamic Relief, and Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, the current service Mufti of Australia.
Apologies to those who don't speak English, unfortunately Hanan's English is not at a conversational level.
We hope you enjoy it.
This episode is part of my Muslims and the Media series, where I explore the relationship between representation of Muslims in the media, and the actors and REactors who contribute positively or negatively towards it.
My guest this episode is Keysar Trad, Ex President of the Lebanese Muslims Association. Current President of
the Islamic Friendship Association, writer, translator, and very hard
working member of the Muslim Community in Australia.
We had a frank, open discussion about the Media, the Muslim Community
and related global issues.
I would have to say this was one of my most enjoyable interviews. Keysar is well versed man who strong opinions and a drive to do the right thing. I know you're going to enjoy it as well.
Just Media Advocacy is a Sydney based organization that aims to monitor
the media and hold it accountable to its own standards. We talk about
Muslims and the Media, and racism, and xenophobia, and islamophia.
We talk to brother Zachariah Matthews about this initiative, and about Muslims and way they're covered in the media.
There is a lot of work to do for the new mufti. Parties, organizations and their leaders, Muslims and non Muslims all want to see what this shiny new position holder can do. Is he like the old ones ? will he make a difference ?
One way Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad is trying to reach out to his community is by holding these programs called Fatawa (plural of Fatwa), and so far I can see, he's holding out his hand to whoever wants to benefit the community, no exclusive alliances, no old generation vs new generation politics etc..
We are trying to make Dr Ibrahim's knowledge available to as many Muslims in Australia as possible, hence this new push for Islamic Q&A sessions with English Interpretation.
We started out with 1 session a month in English, but Alhumdulillah since today we couldn't get through all the questions. We may increase that to twice a month, maybe even more if the need arises. Allahu A3lam.
Please provide your feedback, or questions, or contributions. Let us know what you think and what you would like.
A special thanks to Brother Ahmad Killani of Muslim Village for contributing an important question and for offering his skills and assistance to the Mufti.
I would like to thank the brothers and sisters who have contributed, and apologize to those whose answers we were not able to answer. Inshallah next session we will leave an extra half hour as buffer to be able to answer all questions.
As always, there are a number of ways to submit a question to the mufti.
1- Comment here with your question
2- email the mufti dribrahim@muftiofaustralia.com.au
3- post on the fb group
4- Call in on the day 02 9724 3355
5- you can also tweet me or message me on my fb account
Tonight's episode (Friday 18th November 2011) is going to cover the first Islamically driven accredited tertiary level Islamic Studied Course.
ISRA (Islamic Science and Research Academy of Australia) is holding an information evening on the second year of its Islamic Studies program.
Date: Sunday 27 November 2011
Time: 6 pm - 8 pm
Venue: ISRA Academy, Level 3, 128-136 South Parade Auburn
I met with sister Makiz Ansari (apologies if it's spelled wrong) and brother Ahmad Hasan. We discussed the importance of islamic education and especially in Australia.
So I finally managed to grab Mr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad for an hour to interview him about his new position as Australia's new Mufti.
What is a mufti you ask ? Well according to wiseGeek a mufti is an Islamic scholar who has the authority to issue legal opinions known as fatawa about fine points of Islamic law. The issue of Mufti has been a divisive and controvertial one over the last few years for a number of reasons.
Within the Muslim community there were a lot of questions over the authority of a person (Sheikh Taj Eldin Elhilali at the time) who knowns little about Australia outside of Lakemba. A large segment of the community did not recognize or acknowledge the role or authority of a mufti. Hardly anyone outside of Sydney had met or spoken the Sheikh Taj, who didn't speak English. Similarly the later Mufti Sheikh Fehmi was based in Melbourne and due to his age and health, he was not able to travel much outside of Melbourne and therefore access to him was limited by those outside Melbourne.
Within the wider Australian community there was largely very little knowledge about the role or position of the Mufti, referred to as the highest Islamic religious authority in Australia (and sometimes likened to a Pope for Australian Muslims) many controversies erupted over the position of the Mufti and the persons filling it. Not least of course because of some Muslim organizations publicly criticizing or rejecting the authority of the Mufti.
Well how exactly is a Mufti chosen ? What does he do ? and what can we as Australians and Muslims except from him ?
This interview lasted about an hour and I tried to ask the most pertinent question within the time I had. I hope It's been beneficial to my listeners.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback on this issue, as I will be conveying any concerns, questions or comments you may have on this issue to the Mufti.
If you have any questions for the mufti, you can also contact him directly at dribrahim@muftiofAustralia.com
This interview was conducted at the QKradio studies in Fairfield Sydney.
